I do not intend to debate gun control in the United States.  I know there are some who say that banning assault style weapons won’t solve the problem of mass shootings, but neither will blaming every shooting on mental illness. We have made mental illness the scapegoat for a lot of what ails our country.  Truth is, not everyone who goes on a rampage is mentally ill.  
There are, however, downright evil people on this planet who have the ability to lay out their heinous crimes in horrifying detail weeks and months before they actually execute those plans, and who are fully aware of the conse-quences of their actions.  Fully aware.  
How on earth they have the audacity to plead “not guilty” is beyond me, oth-er than they know they can cop the insanity plea while mama stands by with heart-rending theatrics, insisting “I know my boy, and he wouldn’t do some-thing like this.”  Yeah, right.  Tell that to the young woman who stepped into a car thinking she was entering an Uber vehicle and subsequently ended up with 120 stab wounds on her body.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for “innocent until proven guilty”, but criminals today know they have the upper hand.  They know they have more rights than the victim.  Have you ever noticed how the news media are always careful to say “the ALLEGED gunman”, even though 20 videos captured his deed and 50 cops wrestled him to the ground, clutching a recently fired gun in his hands.  Maybe the “law” dictates the media must use the term “al-leged” to the point of ridiculousness, but, hey, there we go again, sheltering the person responsible for the constant flow of innocent blood in our schools, our churches, our synagogues, our malls, our entertainment venues, and on our own front lawns. 
Ever wonder why we don’t call the victims “ALLEGED victims”? Oh, I for-got.  They are dead.  Beyond-a-reasonable-doubt dead.  Still, thanks to our Christian-Judeo values, we insist that no one is beyond rehabilitation, and, of course, EVERY American citizen is “entitled” to a trial by his or her peers, regardless.

After all, we don’t want any rush to judgment for these cold-blooded killers, even though the victims were not given that luxury,  Bang! Bang! Bang! And an innocent life is snuffed out. We do everything possible to safeguard the “rights” of the killer, but what about justice for the victims of random vio-lence?  If a law is ineffective at obtaining justice for the deceased, let’s do something about it vs. sitting back and saying we have the best system in the world.  Tell that to the survivors of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were killed by a relentless moron.
Not only does the media shrink from calling a spade a spade, but they love to hype the motive for such senselessness as if  knowing the motive will be a salve.  Who cares about the freaking’ motive?  More often than not, knowing the motive backfires, offering sympathy for the killer.  Poor guy was forced to eat his own boogers as a child, or was bullied, or came from a dysfunctional household.  My God, those are ALL legit reasons for random massacres, ya think?

​We need to quit coddling the offender, of giving our courtrooms over to clowns representing themselves, of giving near-celebrity status to cold heart-ed murderers.  We believe there are good people on this planet, so why can’t we come to grips with the fact that there are abhorrently evil people?
Not all mass killers are mentally ill.  
Jean Mlincek is a freelance writer who resides in St. Petersburg, FL.

​By Joyce A. Reed
Meet Evil, my pseudo pet! Evil is a baby squirrel who has taken up residence in our backyard since last year. Evil used to have 3 siblings who also roamed the trees in our yard. I named them Tiny, Curly and Mo, but due to Evil’s serious
“personality disorder”, they no longer reside on our property.
Why? Because Evil unmercifully chased, harassed, or wrestled with them in the grass on so many occasions, I figured they couldn’t take it anymore. And in spite of the free food and water I was giving them, they moved on to safer and more peaceful habitats.
I love Evil in spite of his need for extensive psychiatric intervention or, at minimum, behavior modification training. You see, Evil suffers from little man, or. in his case, little animal syndrome. Doesn’t matter what size animal comes into our yard, he believes he can tackle them all--deer, rabbit, adult squirrels 50 times his size, birds or chipmunks. All fall prey to his “evil” ways. Any violation of his territory results in swift punishment being given out without a moment of hesitation. His reign of terror knows no limit and his antics keep me entertained for hours. I have honestly considered posting a “Beware of Squirrel!” sign for the sake of other critters, but I don’t speak rabbit, dear, or even squirrel, so writing a sign would be difficult.
Although I’d like to have a pet like so many others--one you could hold, pet, take for walks--Evil would never go for it.


However, I love the way he comes running from who knows where whenever I get out the can of nuts and shake it, alerting him that it is meal time. He never fails to appear. He will not approach me, but sits on the lower branch of one our spruce trees, waiting for me to throw the nuts towards him. Only after I have turned to walk away will he drop down, pick up a nut and then scamper back up a branch to nibble on it. He moves the nut back and forth in his mouth, as if he is eating corn on the cob. Once finished, he then dutifully cleans his paws before going back down to get another nut. He is meticulous to a fault when it comes to cleanliness. Evil also likes little pieces of bread, but downright refuses to eat any of the crust. He nibbles the center, then throws the crust to the ground. Reminds me of one of my children when they were younger and I had to cut the crust off the slice of bread before they would eat it. No, I am not going to start cutting the crust off his bread too!


I worry about Evil though since his territorial behavior has limited the potential of him finding a love life. What “lady” would want a bully for a mate, not to mention one that would be chasing you around the yard and trees all day long? I guess he will have to be content with his solitary life for now. Who knows? Maybe one day Miss Right will come along and my little rascal friend will mend his “evil” ways!


Story by Joyce A. Reed, who resides in Ohio and has her own backyard animal kingdom.

jean.mlincek@seniorvoiceamerica.org
 https://www.seniorvoiceamerica.org/featured/category/jean-mlineck